Category: Human Rights

An Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) working group should show it is genuinely interested in engaging with civil society if it wants to produce an effective environmental rights declaration, as it resumes drafting today in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The working group released its first – and so far only – version of the draft […]

(Geneva) – All victims of gross human rights violations in Palestine and Israel are owed reparation, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch on June 26 submitted recommendations to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. The rapporteur, Francesca Albanese, had invited input to inform her […]

(Berlin, July 1, 2024) – Uzbekistan authorities have increasingly cracked down on calls for independence in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan since protests broke out there two years ago, Human Rights Watch said today. But Uzbekistan has also yet to hold any senior officials accountable for the excessive force used to quell the protests against […]

The US State Department has released its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIPs) Report ranking nearly 200 countries’ anti-trafficking efforts. The report finds perpetrators increasingly use “social media, online advertisements, websites, dating apps, and gaming platforms” to force, defraud, or coerce job seekers into labor and sexual exploitation, and encourages technology companies to use “data and algorithm tools […]

(Beirut) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should establish an international fact-finding mission into the August 4, 2020 blast at Beirut’s port, 18 organizations including Human Rights Watch, and dozens of relatives of the victims of the blast said in a statement released today.  Nearly four years after the blast, nobody has been held […]

Special Advisor on International Disability Rights (SAIDR) Sara Minkara will travel to Istanbul and Ankara, Türkiye, June 30 – July 3 to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities across several policy areas. During her trip, SAIDR Minkara will promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in crisis response and recovery, NATO, and the media.  SAIDR Minkara’s travel […]

(Brussels) – Judges are set to deliberate on a verdict in a landmark domestic trial in Guinea for gross human rights abuses committed by government security forces in 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. The closing arguments of all parties in the trial concluded on June 26, 2024. The judges indicated they will deliberate on a verdict […]

From June 30 to July 2, Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons Jessica Stern will travel to Dublin, Ireland. Special Envoy Stern will meet with senior Irish government officials to discuss Ireland’s efforts to advance LGBTQI+ equality via multilateral fora and domestically to address discrimination and provide mental health support for […]

Over 1,300 Muslim pilgrims reportedly died during the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, this month in Saudi Arabia, where temperatures have soared beyond 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).  Unmitigated exposure to extreme heat can cause a range of known health harms including organ failure and even death. Heat stress is believed to have […]

Government officials in Sri Lanka are withholding exam results from 70 Muslim women and girls because their head coverings allegedly covered their ears while they took their exams. The decision violates the students’ right to freedom of religion and further entrenches discrimination widely experienced by Muslims in Sri Lanka. The students, many from relatively low-income […]